Whenever a Hollywood reboot, sequel or spinoff is announced, you can hear the faint sounds of a million angry people screaming about today’s unoriginal movie market. If you listen closely enough, you can even hear the shrieks of people pleading with Hollywood to stop remaking their favorite childhood movies.
The freshest screams stem from the new, animated Ghostbusters movie in the works at Sony, according to the Hollywood Reporter. This is the third Ghostbusters movie currently being made. The animated feature joins the upcoming all-female reboot “Ghostbusters” and the spinoff movie “Ghost Corps.”
The haters making a fuss over Hollywood reboots are just emitting pointless white noise. There’s nothing wrong with rebooting beloved franchises. Reboots are financially successful and no matter how much you complain, they’re not going to ruin your favorite franchise.
The thought of a classic film being remade may sound upsetting, but it isn’t the end of the world. If the new “Ghostbusters” flops, the love for the originals will still be there.
The Harry Potter movies were a huge part of my childhood. I have fond memories of repeatedly watching them until I had entire scenes memorized and then hiding that information from my parents because they thought the series was satanic. But those loving memories won’t be gone when they inevitably remake the series in 20 years. I’ll still be first in line at the midnight showing for the new movies. And if they end up being terrible, I’ll still appreciate the original films.
Sony is the only major studio without a lucrative movie universe, so you can’t blame them for trying to produce a valuable franchise. Successful sequels make a lot of money at the box office and with other ventures, like merchandise and theme parks.
Currently, seven of the top 10 highest-grossing films of 2015 are reboots, spinoffs or sequels, according to Box Office Mojo. The top three movies of the year include the fourth Jurassic Park movie, the seventh “Fast & Furious” movie and the 11th movie in the Marvel cinematic universe.
Disney owns Star Wars and Marvel, two of the biggest movie franchises around. The Avengers’ franchise has grossed over $8 billion since 2010 and Star Wars is so big that Disneyland will soon have an entire land devoted to just Star Wars. So if Sony thinks they can revive an ’80s movie and turn it into something more than just retro Hot Topic merchandise, more power to them.
It makes no financial sense for movie studios to stop remaking movies, and a bad remake isn’t going to hurt your childhood. If you don’t want to see it, then don’t watch it. If two mediocre animated television shows in the ’90s didn’t kill the Ghostbusters franchise, three movies with A-list comedy stars sure aren’t going to do it.
